The Office of Research Development and the Office of Sponsored Programs at James Madison University are tracking information regarding federal funding in light of the executive orders issued by President Trump to determine their impact on sponsored programs.
President Trump has signed several executive orders which impact sponsored programs, including:
- Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing
- Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity
- Reevaluating And Realigning United States Foreign Aid
- Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government
On Tuesday January 28th, the Office of Management and Budget issued Memorandum M-25-13, which insituted a pause on most grants, loans, and federal assistance programs until they were reviewed to ensure consistency with President Trump's executive actions. The White House issued a Q&A regarding the memorandum here. This would cover most if not all sponsored programs.
The memorandum was rescinded on Wednesday January 29th, as reported by the AP and other media. This was after a federal judge temporarily halted its implementation. Information distributed by the NSF (on February 2nd) and DoJ (on February 3rd) indicates that the Office of Management and Budget has determined that all federal agencies must lift the funding freeze under the temporary restraining order. Although the memorandum is rescinded, all grants, loans, and other federal assistance programs will still be evaluated for compliance with the executive orders. A second temporary restraining order with slightly broader scope was issued on February 3rd; see a report by Reuters for details.
ORD and OSP are tracking the implementation of these executive orders and their impact on sponsored programs for various federal agencies below. The information below has been collected for the use of JMU researchers. Please reach out to researchdevelopment@jmu.edu (ORD) or grants@jmu.edu (OSP) with specific questions or to alert us to further information.
Last updated: February 14, 2025
Information by Federal Agency
The National Institute of Food and Agriculture has removed all RfAs for review. PIs should not continue proposal development until further guidance is released. Any PIs with active NIFA grants should reach out to program officers and OSP for guidance.
Other USDA grants are being impacted as well. Funding has been withdrawn for some programs, leading them to stop accepting applications (see this one). Other ones have their application window delayed (see this one).
We are also aware that Politico has reported that the USDA's office of communications issued a directive to "Identify and archive or unpublish any landing pages focused on climate change" and "Identify all web content related to climate change and document it in a spreadsheet" for the office to review. Among other things, this may affect NOFOs and communication about funding.
This directive may also be relevant to PIs who use data from the USDA in their research. Interested researchers can consult this article for information on archives.
On January 23rd, the Department of Education issued a press release detailing the actions they have taken to eliminate DEI initiatives. While the press release primarily focuses on DoE employees and councils, it does mention identifying "for removal of over 200 web pages from the Department’s website that housed DEI resources and encouraged schools and institutions of higher education to promote or endorse harmful ideological programs". PIs (both funded and those preparing proposals) are encouraged to check to the pages connected to their grants to look for changes.
ORD and OSP have no specific guidance connected to currently existing grants or grants under review. We are not aware of any formal communication pause and so PIs may reach out to program officers; be aware that they may not be able to respond quickly at present.
Please be aware that, as reported by Inside Higher Ed, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has been particularly affected by cuts announced on February 11th. Officials stated that the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) was not affected; however, the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study was cancelled according to the article. Some of the researchers in the article stated that they were going to loose access to research data sets. Any researchers making use of data sets maintained by NCES (or IES more broadly) should confirm that they will continue to have access, and if not, consider one of the alternative modes of access discussed in the article.
Researchers with proposals under review:
On February 12th, Inside Higher Ed reported that IES (Institute for Educational Sciences) review panels have been halted, following significant cuts, which will lead to delays.
Researchers preparing proposals:
The Department of Education does continue to list multiple funding programs as open. PIs are encouraged to check the websites of their intended programs frequently for updates, and to particularly pay attention to the "Page Last Reviewed" date at the bottom. Programs whose page was reviewed after January 23rd are very likely to continue.
Regarding the SEED program: The SEED program page has not been updated with the opportunity published in the Federal Register on 1/17, and the expected webinars have not been scheduled. The status of this program is uncertain.
ORD and OSP are not aware of any formal communication pause and so PIs may reach out to program officers; be aware that they may not be able to respond quickly at present.
Update, February 4th: Note that some Department of Education grants have been withdrawn, specifically two connected to charter schools (here and here).
Institute for Educational Sciences (IES) Specific Information:
IES funding programs remain listed online. Information for two IES Virtual Office Hours for February 6th remains online, including links to join. We encourage PIs considering any IES funding opportunity to join if possible. Update, February 6th: ORD was able to attend the IES office hour for the "Research Training Programs in the Education Sciences" program on February 6th. The program is still accepting applications and all current IES competitions are set to move forward, although anything can change. They advise moving forward with proposal preparation. They also said that, absent further information, PIs should continue to contact the same program officers. Future RfAs for this year may change.
Update, February 11th: The New York Times is reporting that Elon Musk has announced significant cuts at the Department of Education, particularly targeting IES. The social media post claimed 89 contracts and 29 grants were cut; however, the Associated Press reports that 169 contracts were terminated. We are monitoring to see what programs are effected. On February 12th, Inside Higher Ed reported that the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) was particularly affected. It is unclear if any grant programs will be cancelled, although grant review panels have been halted. Researchers quoted in the article mention loosing access to online databases and, in some cases, soon needing to request data on CDs to be reviewed on a computer without internet access in a "cold lab". PIs should consider these restrictions when designing their research program and budget appropriately if additional resources are needed.
Numerous programs within the Department of Energy are expected to be affected by President Trump's executive orders; see particularly executive order "Unleashing American Energy". In particular, all agencies are directed to immediately pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through the Inflation Reducation Act of 2022 or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. All programs must be reviewed for consistency with the aims of section 2 of this order, which means that we expect a pause in multiple energy and environmental programs. Please see also the list of executive orders revoked in section 4 and the clarification memo.
According to a memo signed by acting secretary Ingrid Kolb, no funding or financial assistance (including loans, loan guarantees, grants, cost sharing agreements, funding opportunity announcements, and contracts) will be announced, approved, finalized, or provided until they are reviewed to ensure compliance with administration policy. Therefore, researchers should not expect to be notified regarding their proposal status in the near future. No end date is specified in the memo.
All public facing communication is also paused, with exceptions required approval of the acting secretary. Communications with program officers may be affected.
To the best of our knowledge, there is no directive within the Department of Energy to remove all material related to climate change, as has been reported with the USDA. However, if data is affected, researchers may want to consult the resources in this article.
Currently funded PIs:
The Department of Energy has issued a policy flash which rescinds many previously-issued equity-focused policies. OSP is also aware of a memorandum applicable to all DOE funded agreements and awards which:
- Suspends all DEI program and activities
- Suspends all Community Benefits Plans (CBP)
- Suspends all Justice40 requirements, conditions, and principles.
Recipients and subrecipients must cease any activities and stop incurring costs associated with DEI and CBP activities effective as of January 28th. Grants Officers will be reaching out to discuss award modifications.
Researchers whose programs were funded through the Inflation Reducation Act of 2022 or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act should expect their funding to be paused and reach out to OSP for more specific guidance (unless you have already been contacted by OSP). Please be aware that communications with program officers may or may not be affected by the restrictions in the memo mentioned above.
Researchers with proposals under review:
Researchers may want to refer to the NOFO to see if their program was funded through the Inflation Reducation Act of 2022 or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Please be aware that communications with program officers may be delayed or paused due to the public communications restrictions in the memo mentioned above.
The Office of Science has stated the following in a blog post:
The Office of Science is immediately ending the requirement for Promoting Inclusive and Equitable Research (PIER) Plans in any proposal submitted to the Office of Science. All open solicitations have been or will be amended to remove the PIER Plan requirement and associated review criterion. For proposals that have already been submitted to the Office of Science, no action on the part of the applicant is required, but applicants will have the option to resubmit a new application with the removal of the PIER plan. Reviewers will not be asked to read or comment on PIER Plans. Selection decisions will not take into consideration the content of PIER Plans or any reviewer comments on PIER Plans. If you have questions, please email questions@science.doe.gov. Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Otherwise, proposal evaluation by the Office of Sciences is expected to proceed, possibly on a delayed time frame.
Researchers preparing proposals:
Researchers should check the NOFO for updates. If the program was funded through the Inflation Reducation Act of 2022 or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, ORD would not recommend significant investment in proposal preparation.
PIs considering programs through the Office of Science should be aware of the update to PIER plan requirements issued in a blog post. The Office of Science has already updated all of their programs to remove references to the PIER Plan which is no longer required for any proposals. Some programs have had more substantial changes; for example, DE-FOA-0003464 was updated to a new name and to refocus the scope of the work.
As indicated above, no funding or financial assistance (including loans, loan guarantees, grants, cost sharing agreements, funding opportunity announcements, and contracts) shall be announced, approved, finalized, or provided until they are reviewed to ensure compliance with administration policy. Thus researchers should not expect new programs to be announced in the near future.
Please be aware that communications with program officers may be delayed or paused due to the public communications restrictions in the memo mentioned above.
The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) has removed all previously posted NOFOs and cancelled associated webinars. PIs should not continue proposal development until further guidance is released. Any PIs with active NIJ grants should reach out to program officers and OSP for guidance.
Other Department of Justice grant programs listed here are presumed to be continuing as the page was last updated January 29th.
Numerous programs within the EPA are expected to be affected by President Trump's executive orders; see particularly executive order "Unleashing American Energy". In particular, all agencies are directed to immediately pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through the Inflation Reducation Act of 2022 or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. All programs must be reviewed for consistency with the aims of section 2 of this order, which means that we expect a pause in multiple energy and environmental programs. Please see also the list of executive orders revoked in section 4 and the clarification memo.
The Washington Post reported on January 24th that most external communications by the EPA have been halted; some press releases have been put out since January 27th.
To the best of our knowledge, there is no directive within the EPA to remove all material related to climate change, as has been reported with the USDA. However, if data is affected, researchers may want to consult the resources in this article.
Currently funded PIs:
Researchers whose programs were funded through the Inflation Reducation Act of 2022 or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act should expect their funding to be paused and reach out to OSP for more specific guidance (unless you have already been contacted by OSP). Please be aware that communications with program officers may or may not be affected by the restrictions in the memo mentioned above.
Researchers with proposals under review:
ORD and OSP have no specific guidance. Researchers may want to refer to the NOFO to see if their program was funded through the Inflation Reducation Act of 2022 or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Please be aware that communications with program officers may be delayed or paused due to the public communications restrictions mentioned above.
Researchers preparing proposals:
Researchers should check the NOFO for updates. If the program was funded through the Inflation Reducation Act of 2022 or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, ORD would not recommend significant investment in proposal preparation.
Please be aware that communications with program officers may be delayed or paused due to the public communications restrictions mentioned above.
Internationally-focused US Department of State grants are subject to review under Reevaluating And Realigning United States Foreign Aid. The State Department has announced a 90 day pause for all foreign assistance, both on funding from the State Department and funding issued through USAID (US Agency for International Development). Furthermore, a memo issued by Director Marco Rubio (as reported by devex) orders that no new RfPs, RfAs, NOFOs, or similar will be issued by the Department of State or USAID until they have been reviewed for consistency with President Trump's policies. The review process for issuing new grants is also suspended, so PIs with proposals under review should not expect a response. Furthermore, stop work orders are to be issued for all existing foreign assistance awards (except for limited categories listed at the end of the memo).
OSP has received stop-work orders for these Department of State grants and affected PIs have been contacted. PIs and/or potential PIs are encouraged to reach out to program officers with specific questions for more information.
For PIs preparing proposals, please regularly check your program page. ORD has noticed that some Public Diplomacy Small Grants Program webpages have been taken offline. The SPARK program, which was funded by the State Department but operated by Institute of International Education (IIE), has also been taken offline. We presume this indicates that the programs have been cancelled. Even if the program page remains online, PIs should be aware that all review is suspended and all programs are being reviewed.
Update, February 3rd: Major news organizations are reporting on the possibility that USAID may be closed and programs folded into the US Department of State (examples 1, 2, and 3). If accurate, the political and legal ramifications are unclear; it is similarly unclear in what form programs would continue in the State Department. Researchers should consider this information when deciding whether to prepare proposals for any USAID programs. As reported by the AP, the USAID website is currently down.
In light of this:
- ORD would not recommend preparing proposals for USAID programs until there is greater clarity on the status of such programs, either within USAID or within the State Department, which may take some time.
- Communication with program officers is probably not possible right now. There is likely to be significant reorganization and the POs assigned to any particular program may change.
NASA has issued Amendment 109 to the 2024 ROSES, which states:
To comply with this order, SMD is in the process of amending open Program Elements in ROSES-2024 to end the Inclusion Plan Pilot Study, remove requirements for Inclusion Plans and the evaluation factors associated with them, and adjust the content of some other Program Elements to remove references to NASA’s DEIA programs. Program elements that have already received proposals will not be amended, but if they required Inclusion Plans, those plans will not be reviewed and will not impact the selection of proposals.
A table of program elements to be amended is included in the amendment.
Currently funded PIs:
If your program element is within the table, please reach out to the relevant program officer. Amendment 109 has the following information:
Questions regarding any particular program element may be directed to the point of contact for that given in the summary table of key information at the end of the program element and at https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/program-officers-list/.
Researchers with proposals under review:
As noted in the amendment, if your proposal included an Inclusion Plan it will not be reviewed and any evaluation criteria associated with them will be removed. Otherwise, proposal evaluation is expected to proceed, possibly on a delayed time frame.
Researchers preparing proposals:
Please also follow the NASA ROSES blog here, which indicates updates to program elements, including new due dates and revisions to program element descriptions. If your program element is NOT mentioned in the amendment, we expect minimal changes, although please check the blog and program element page regularly for updated due dates.
If your program element IS mentioned in the amendment, please check the blog and program element page regularly for updates. These updates will include, at a minimum, the removal of the Inclusion Plan. For example, information about updates to F.5 FINESST SMD is here on the ROSES blog.
NASA is encouraging questions about any program element to be directored to the appropriate point of contact at the end of the program element and at https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/program-officers-list/.
If you are applying to a program not included in ROSES, the amendment states the separate notices will be published as they become available.
ORD and OSP has no specific guidance regarding the NEA. The NEA Equity Action Plan has been taken offline.
Update, February 6th: ORD did notice some changes to the NEA program page around February 5th. These changes were confirmed in a press release on February 6th, which indicates that changes are in response to recent directives. Key changes are:
- The Challenge America program, which focused on underprivileged communities, has been cancelled.
- The Grants for Arts Projects (GAP) February 13th deadline is cancelled. The new deadlines are March 11th (instead of February) and July 10th (the usual July deadline). Organizations that had already submitted for the February deadline must submit a new application for one of the other two deadlines.
- GAP will prioritize projects that honor the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
- GAP now requires applicants to have completed a five-year history of arts programming.
- Applicants can no longer submit to both GAP and Our Town in the same fiscal year.
There will be a webinar on Tuesday, February 18th, 2025, at 2:00 p.m which ORD will plan to attend for more information.
ORD and OSP has no specific guidance regarding the NEH. The NEH Equity Action Plan has been taken offline. The NEH State and Impact of the Humanities program live Q&A DID occur on Tuesday afternoon (Feb. 4th). At the Q&A, program officers stated that NEH is moving forward with their grant programs, including accepting proposals. At present, the impact of the executive orders on specific programs is unknown, and the program offiers were directing questions to the chair's office at chairsoffice@neh.gov.
A memo from Acting Secretary Dr. Dorothy Fink implements a public communications pause until February 1st, as reported by Science. This includes all divisions of HHS, including NIH, HRSA, and CDC. Further guidance from acting NIH director Matthew Memoli reported by Science narrowed the scope of the memo, and also indicated that study sections are likely to resume in early February. Importantly, program officers who oversee extramural grants can talk to grantees about work funded prior to January 20th.
Currently:
- Program officers may be difficult to contact and can only discuss work funded prior to January 20th.
- Study sections for the final week of January have been cancelled.
- Training activities (e.g., the R15 informational webinar) have been cancelled.
Some NIH resources have been removed, including Ending Structural Racism and the website for Women’s Health Equity & Inclusion. Researchers needing this or other information may want to consult the archives mentioned in this article.
Currently funded PIs:
NIH has yet to offer specific guidance to current PIs. However, the follow-up memo reported by Science indicates the PIs should be able to communicate with program officers provided that their work was funded prior to January 20th.
Researchers with proposals under review:
Researchers should expect that review may be delayed due to the cancellation of study sections. Program officers are unlikely to be able to communicate with PIs at this time due to the communications pause.
On Febuary 3rd, Science reported that study sections were meeting again and some aspects of the communications pause have been lifted. Advisory section meetings, which are the final stage of grant reviews, are also not meeting except in closed sessions.
Update Feb. 8: The Chronicle is reporting that research fellowships to promote diversity (such as this one) have been discontinued. The funding announcements have been marked as expired and, according to the Chronicle, PIs have been told their applications are withdrawn, not folded into the applicant pool for the parent program. We are unaware of any such applicants at JMU, but if this applies to you, please reach out to ORD for assistance in applying to the parent program without the diversity notation as quickly as possible.
Researchers preparing proposals:
Researchers should consult the PAR or RFA for their programs regularly and be alert for updates, and should keep these executive orders in mind when writing their proposals. Please be aware that PARs and RFAs are occasionally expired prior to their last scheduled application due date.
Researchers may want to subscribe to NIH updates; ORD particularly recommends the weekly table of contents emails. This will indicate any policy changes.
ORD has noticed that all materials related to developing a "Plan for Enhancing Diverse Perspectives" (PEDP) have been taken offline, although this requirement is still mentioned in most NOFOs. We will continue to monitor this but expect that PEDPs will no longer be expected or required.
Update Feb. 5: A JMU PI was able to communicate with an NIH program officer regarding a NOFO with an upcoming due date. The email contained the information: "Eligible applicants can continue to apply to any active notices of funding opportunity (NOFOs). Follow the instructions contained in the NOFO, including the “Related Notices” section at the top where any changes to application requirements are announced." No specific information about the PEDP was given.
Update Feb. 8: Late yesterday afternoon, the NIH announced that starting Monday indirect costs would be capped at 15%. This applies to all new grants, and not just all new program announcements. If you are preparing a budget for an NIH grant, please reach out to OSP as soon as possible for updated materials. Please also remain in close contact with OSP for futher updates as JMU updates policies to account for this. Further update #1: On February 10th, a judge temporarily blocked this order for 22 states, restoring the federally negotiated IDC rates. However, Virginia was not included in this. Further update #2: This was extended nationwide on February 11th.
Additionally, The Chronicle is reporting that research fellowships to promote diversity (such as this one) have been discontinued and current applications withdrawn. Researchers who were intended to apply to a diversity award should instead prepare applications for the relevant parent announcement (i.e., without the diversity notation). Researchers should also watch for a change of tense from present to past tense on webpages, as here; although such programs may not have yet been cancelled ORD would not recommend investing time in proposal preparation.
Update, Feb. 9: PIs should carefully review the PAR or other NOFO associated with their programs regularly and carefully. ORD has noticed that the PEDP component has been removed from some programs (e.g., PAR-24-268, where it was removed sometime late Feb. 8 or early Feb. 9). Although it was updated, this is not clearly indicated anywhere on the page. ORD expects the PEDP to removed from most if not all NIH programs.
A memo from Acting Secretary Dr. Dorothy Fink implements a public communications pause until February 1st, as reported by Science. This includes all divisions of HHS, including NIH, HRSA, and CDC.
Although further guidance from NIH acting director Matthew Memoli narrowed the scope of the memo (as reported by Science), it is unclear whether this applies to HRSA.
Currently:
- Program officers may be difficult to contact and, in the best case scenario, can only discuss work funded prior to January 20th (as with NIH).
- Evaluation of currently submitted proposals is suspended.
- Webinars appear to suspended- note that they were removed from the BHWET-Paraprofessionals funding notice here on January 24th.
Some resources, such as the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey site, have been deactivated. Researchers needing this material are encouraged to consult the archives listed in this article.
Currently funded PIs:
To the best of our knowledge, none of these agencies has yet to offer specific guidance to current PIs. PIs should be aware that due to the communications pause they may not be able to correspond with program officers.
Researchers with proposals under review:
Researchers should expect that review may be delayed, and should be aware that program officers are unlikely to be able to communicate with PIs at this time due to the communications pause.
Researchers preparing proposals:
Please be aware that many programs depend on the future appropriations of funds, particularly in HRSA. As a particular example, the Nursing Workforce Diversity (NWD) program indicates in the NOFO that applications will be reviewed only if Congress appropriates funding for the program. PIs should review their program NOFO for information about the availability of funds for the programs and should consider the priorities of the administration and Congress in evaluating the likelihood for funds to be appropriated.
Additionally, researchers should be alert for updates for their intended programs, including their potential cancellation. PIs should also be aware that program officers may not be answer questions currently due to the communication pause.
Researchers should keep these executive orders in mind when writing their proposals.
All researchers can submit questions to NSF via their webform. Questions are unlikely to receive personalized responses but will be used to form an FAQ related to implementation of the executive orders. The NSF has cancelled most, if not all, in-person events (e.g., this).
Currently funded PIs:
The National Science Foundation is reporting on their implementation of the executive orders here. The NSF has also issued the following instruction to PIs with active grants:
All NSF grantees must comply with these executive orders, and any other relevant executive orders issued, by ceasing all non-compliant grant and award activities. Executive orders are posted at whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions. In particular, this may include, but is not limited to conferences, trainings, workshops, considerations for staffing and participant selection, and any other grant activity that uses or promotes the use of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) principles and frameworks or violates federal anti-discrimination laws.
PIs are encouraged to communicate with OSP with questions.
Science is reporting that NSF has blocked access to funding while they review previously-funded research and training projects for consistency with the executive orders. According to the article, program officers have been asked to identify projects in their portfolio but have not yet been given specific written guidance. It is unclear what will happen to projects that are determined to be inconsistent with President Trump's orders (e.g., whether the award will be terminated or adjusted). Currently funded PIs who are concerned that some or all of their funded work is not in alignment with the executive orders are strongly encouraged to reach out to their program officer, although please be aware that they may not be able to respond at present.
On February 2nd, NSF restored access to the Award Cash Management System (ACM$), in accordance with the temporary restraining order issued by the federal court. They also released an FAQ with multiple questions connected to ACM$ access. Please contact OSP at grants@jmu.edu with questions or issues connected with accessing your funding.
The FAQ also contained these questions and answer (note that TRO stands for the temporary restraining order):
How does the TRO impact that award reviews NSF was conducting?
The TRO does not impact the ongoing review of our award portfolio to identify active grants in the context of recent Executive Orders. We will continue the comprehensive review of our award portfolio.
Can the NSF terminate my award even if they are still reviewing all awards?
NSF can not take action to delay or stop payment for active awards based solely on actual or potential non-compliance with the Executive Orders. However, the TRO reserves the agency's right to take action for reasons not related to compliance with the executive orders, such as violations of law, regulation, or current NSF grant terms and conditions.
Update February 6th: The Washington Post is reporting that existing NSF grants are undergoing a keyword review to identify grants that may not comply with executive orders. According to the article, NSF staff review the grants and determine whether they are in violation of an executive order; for example, a grant discussing data accessibility would not run afoul of the DEIA executive orders. According to the article, geographic diversity is not implicated in the executive order but socio-economic status is. The article cites an internal document that grants that do not comply with the executive orders could be modified to be in compliance, or terminated in whole or in part. Currently funded NSF PIs who are concerned should reach out to their program officers as well as communicating with OSP.
Researchers with proposals under review:
NSF has cancelled panel reviews for the remainder of the week according to Insider Higher Ed. Researchers with proposals currently under review should expect a delay before notification of funding decisions. It is unclear how the executive orders will affect evaluation of proposal evaluation. Given the instructions to PIs above, it may be prudent to consider whether any proposed activities are non-compliant with the executive orders and, if so, whether they can be excised from the rest of the grant activities.
To the best of our knowledge, program officers are not restricted from public communications and so researchers may send questions to them, but please be aware that they may not be able to answer at this time.
Update: In an FAQ published February 2nd, the NSF addressed the following questions relevant to PIs with proposals under review:
I submitted a proposal recently. When can I expect it to be reviewed?
NSF will publish revised funding opportunities as necessary and will communicate any updates to the research community via NSF's established communication processes. Our intent is to resume proposal processing and review activities for funding opportunities as soon as possible.
I was supposed to be on a panel last week and it was canceled. When will it be rescheduled?
NSF is rescheduling, as appropriate, virtual, hybrid, and in-person proposal review panels that were scheduled through February 7, 2025.
Researchers developing proposals:
Please be aware that some existing NSF programs have shifted their focus (e.g., NSF GRANTED). Researchers are encouraged to regularly consult their program's funding solicitation and related documents. We encourage researchers to attend office hours and similar events if/when they are offered. A list of upcoming office hours is here; please be aware that most, if not all, of these are cancelled or post-poned, including some scheduled to late February.
Please take care in using guidance (including office hours recordings) prepared prior to the issuance of these executive orders. Researchers should also consider these executive orders when preparing proposals, particularly in regards to their Broader Impacts section. The NSF's description of Broader Impacts is here.
Update: In an FAQ published February 2nd, the NSF addressed the following questions relevant to PIs preparing proposals:
Are we still allowed to submit proposals on Research.gov?
Yes. Proposals may be submitted on Research.gov.
How will the executive orders affect due dates for proposal submission?
Due dates are subject to change. NSF will publish revised funding opportunities as necessary.
State funding updates
Many state programs are funded as federal flow-throughs, meaning that the funds originate with the federal government. These programs may be affected by federal funding freezes and cuts. If you currently receive state funding and are unsure if it is a federal flow-through, please reach out to your program officer or other state contact. OSP is contacting current PIs as problems arise as well.
If you are preparing a proposal or considering preparing a proposal for a state program, please reach out to appropriate contacts (including program officers) if you are unsure if the program is a federal flow-through.